


Life, Before and After

by SLWalker



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, And Now For Something Completely Different, BECAUSE THEY DESERVE TO BE SAVED, F/M, Happy Pirate Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 13:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11209209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/pseuds/SLWalker
Summary: Hondo uh...borroweda pair of kids from Orsis.  Seven years later, they're two of the most treasured young pirates ever to perform a hold-up.





	Life, Before and After

**Author's Note:**

> This is all the fault of @resistancepilots (with a side of @inthepurplefog) for enabling me on Tumblr.

“Do you ever miss it?  Life before?”

The ship was humming around them, and Kilindi was sitting cross-legged on the floor, tearing down her customized blaster so it could be cleaned and reassembled, the rest of her assorted knives and other equipment precisely laid out.  On the blaster’s casing were tick-marks counting off her successful raids; fifty-two so far.  More than he had himself, but it had taken Hondo awhile to decide that Maul  _wasn’t_  going to take any opportunity to escape, and even now the pirate sometimes gave him a second look before letting him participate.

It was strange, to be viewed with something that could only be defined as affectionate suspicion.  “Wellllll,” Hondo would say, stretching the word to its breaking point with his arm flung around Maul’s shoulders in casual warmth, “you were a handful when you were little.  No, not one handful.   _Five_  handfuls.  Maybe even ten.”

Both of them had been, but Trezza and the rest of the Orsis cadets and instructors had been leveled by unknown assailants after the raid where both of them had been– well, frankly, kidnapped for ransom.  Hondo had been so appalled by the turn of events that he had decided he was now responsible for them and that they were his.  Kilindi, ever an optimist, was the first one to warm up to the pirate and settle into the crew.  Where Kilindi went, Maul eventually followed, though not in any way anyone could define as  _easy._

Seven years on from then, it didn’t quite feel real.  Maul wasn’t sure when he stopped looking for escape and started dreading the idea of ever running across his old master again.  When he stopped waiting for this test to end and him to be found wanting.  He still sometimes woke up with nightmares.

At least here, though, he could roll over in bed and throw his arm over Kilindi and let the soft and cool smoothness of her skin ground him in the present.

He watched her for a moment and thought about things.  About their shared quarters here, with high end gear and gifts from Hondo and little souvenirs they had ended up collecting from different worlds.  The customized and very large bath, to compliment that  _on-board_   _swimming pool_  two decks down that Hondo had installed for Kilindi, and the array of weapons adorning the wall he had collected for Maul over the years.

Now, he contemplated the schematics for a lightsaber (archaic in design but useful for the basics) that Hondo had stolen from an archive that specialized in Old Republic history, and the promise to take him somewhere to steal crystals.

Every once in awhile, the thought occurred with some measure of wonder:  _This is a life.  This is what living is._

Maul ducked his head and shook it with a grin. “No.  I don’t.”


End file.
